High security prisons locked down after drone incursion

Four of Queensland’s High Security prisons were placed in lockdown yesterday evening after a number of drones were flown over their perimeters.

Brisbane Correctional Centre, Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre, Wolston Correctional Centre and Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre were all locked down after the incursion on Sunday afternoon.

The prisons resumed normal operations this morning after a thorough search of each was undertaken to ensure no contraband had been introduced by the drones.

The incident is being investigated by the Queensland Police Service.

Queensland Corrective Services Commissioner Peter Martin slammed the irresponsible and illegal actions.

“The safety and security of our prisoners and staff is of upmost importance, which was put at risk by this ill-conceived stunt,” Commissioner Martin said.

“Drones are a real threat when used to introduce contraband into our prison system or to aid in the escape of prisoners, which is why the Queensland Government introduced legislation earlier this year to make such actions illegal.

“We recently introduced a trial for detecting drones at Woodford Correctional Centre, which will intercept communications with a drone and detect the presence, distance and speed of a drone through radio waves going back to the drone’s source,” he said.

“The trial will run for about a month and following this we will review and assess its effectiveness in a correctional setting to see if we can roll it out to all centres across Queensland.